Fair Maiden back to Woodbine

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – One of the fastest 2-year-old fillies in North America so far this year is training quietly along at Arlington.

Fair Maiden debuted June 23 at Arlington and finished a distant second to Angelcents, who was set to start as the favorite Saturday in the Arlington-Washington Lassie. A month later, Fair Maiden won an Arlington Polytrack maiden sprint by more than 14 lengths, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 90. Shipped to Woodbine for her third start, she won the Aug. 17 Catch a Glimpse over 6 ½ furlongs on turf by 7 ½ lengths, getting a 91 Beyer. Those are two of the three fastest 2-year-old-filly figures this year; Leucothea also got a 91 winning Aug. 15 at Del Mar.

Eoin Harty trains Fair Maiden for Godolphin, her breeder, and said the filly will return to Woodbine for the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes over one mile on turf on Sept. 15.

“I’m hoping she runs a similar race to the last one, and I see no reason she shouldn’t,” said Harty. “She’s continued to train well, and she’s gained weight. I don’t think a mile is going to be a problem for her at all.”

Fair Maiden worked an easy half-mile in 52 seconds Sept. 3 at Arlington. By Street Boss out of the Smart Strike mare Shieldmaiden, Fair Maiden has a versatile pedigree, though offspring of her sire excel in turf racing.

“I really only ran her on turf because I was looking for a race and that was what came up,” said Harty, who believes Fair Maiden might perform well on dirt, too, but she’s not going to try dirt racing in the near term. “There’s no reason to think she couldn’t run on the dirt, but after she won that race at Woodbine so well, it wouldn’t be prudent to skip the Natalma.”

Another Arlington-based 2-year-old filly, Release the Heat, got an 86 Beyer from her win here Aug. 31.

Mr. Jagermeister to Ack Ack

Mr. Jagermeister is bound next week for Churchill Downs, where he’ll try to stretch his speed to a one-turn mile Sept. 28 in the Grade 3, $150,000 Ack Ack Stakes.

Canterbury Park-based trainer Valorie Lund said she’s shipping Mr. Jagermeister along with two other horses to Churchill. Also traveling is Satellite Storm, whom Lund claimed for $15,000 at Turf Paradise earlier this year and who has turned into a terror since being switched to turf. Satellite Storm won three straight Canterbury turf sprints by 10 lengths combined, including a blowout last-start victory in the $50,000 Mystic Lake Turf Sprint.

Lund is targeting a Sept. 15 grass-sprint allowance race with Satellite Storm, but it’s Mr. Jagermeister who remains the stable star. One of, if not the best, Minnesota-bred to race, Mr. Jagermeister ran his career record to 17-10-3-2 with a 5 ¼-length win in the $100,000 Minnesota Sprint Championship on Sept. 1. Mr. Jagermeister has dominated statebred-restricted competition throughout his career and won easily in this most recent start despite an early and middle pace duel while running back two weeks after a long ship to Colonial Downs, where he’d captured a $100,000 stakes race. The Colonial start was his first race in nearly four months after a couple relatively minor issues derailed Mr. Jagermeister’s summer.

“If I hadn’t known the competition, I wouldn’t have run him back that soon after the effort in Virginia, after coming back from his layoff and after 52 hours shipping,” Lund said. “Despite the performance, [jockey Leandro Goncalves] said he was a little flat the other day. Be prepared to see him take a step forward when he comes back after a month off. I’m excited to run in the Ack Ack. A one-turn mile I think it’s going to be awesome for him.”

In the Ack Ack, Mr. Jagermeister could face 3-yearold star Omaha Beach, who recently missed a comeback start in the Shared Belief at Del Mar.

No plans for Winter Sunset

Winter Sunset came out of her impressive win Wednesday in the $200,000 Indiana Grand Stakes in good shape, but trainer Wayne Catalano said there are no specific plans yet for this impeccably bred daughter of Tapit and Winter Memories.

“We were happy with the way she ran, and she came out of it well, but I don’t really have plans at the moment,” Catalano said. “We’ll look over the options.”

Catalano disputed the idea that a cutback from longer middle distances to a mile Wednesday pushed the filly to a career peak. Catalano said getting the filly farther off the early pace produced a more professional performance.

“That was the setup we’d been talking about for her,” he said.

◗ Chicago-based apprentice jockey Skyler Spanabel will be out until next spring after fracturing her arm in a gate accident Sept. 1. Spanabel had surgery to repair the injury on Sept. 2 and has returned to Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Mich., for her sophomore year of college. Spanabel, 19, has four winners from 120 mounts in 2019.